Motive power.



No. 373,953, PATENTED FEB. .11, 1908.

H. K. HESS.

MOTIVE POWER.

APPLICATION FILED MAB. 23, 1903.

HENRY K. HESS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MOTIVE POWER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1.1, 1908.

Application iled March 23. 1903. Serial No. 149.118.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY K. HEss, of Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful .Im rovements in Motive Power, of which the fbllowing, taken in con nection with `the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to im rovements in motive ower which is articuilarly applicable for th other carriers.

In the use'of gas engines for propelling vehicles as well as for various other uses the exhaust or spent gases are usually discharged to atmosphere and it is well known that these gases escape from the -engine in a highly` heated condition, which7 of course, represents a large percentage of energy.

The object of my invention 1s toutilize this heat to Generate steam in a suitable boiler provided therefor and to further utilize the steam thus generated for the operation of. a steam en ine which is also connected to propel the veicle and may be used either independently or jointly with the gas engine.

Further objects will appear in the subsequent description.

In the drawvings Figure 1 is a top plan of a running gear of a vehicle showing gas and steam engines, and a boiler operatively mounted upon the vehicle and connected together in a manner hereinafter described. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the boiler and gas engine showing the steam engine in elevation and the con- `nections between the engine and boiler.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section of a portion of the rear driving shaft and adjacent portion of the supporting frame or bearings. Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views taken respectively on lines 4 4. and 5 5, Fig. 3.

Similar reference characters indicate corres onding partsin ally the views.

n carrying out the objects of this invention'l'l have shown a running gear of avehicle comprising a frame 1 and front and rear vaxle sections 2 and 3 said running gear being adapted to support a suitable pody, as 4 lhown by dotted lines in lig. 2.

Mounted upon the vehicle in any desired mannennot necessary to herein illustrate or describe, isa boiler 5 a gas engine 6 andy a steam. engine 7i the boiler 5 being of the usual steam'generator type have propulsion o automobiles and.

ing a sub-chamber 8 a smoke chamber Q and connectin fines 10 ".lfhe gas engine -6 may a so be of any des slred construction having an explosion chamber 11 and a water jacket 12 the-'ex-r plosion chamber being provided with an ex-E aust port 13 which is connected by a. conduit M to the sub-chamber 8 ot the boiler 5-- in such manner that the heated spent gases escaping from the explosion chamber of the gas engine are con.-l ducted into the chamber 8 for the purose vof generating steam in the boiler 5fhis conduit 14.- is inclosed by a shell 15 which is somewhat larger than: the conduit M for forming a chamber 1.6 and forming a water jacket around: the com duit 14 one end of the chamber li6 communicating with the water jacket 1.2

of the cylinder of the gas engine, said water jacket -12 being provided with a supply pipe 17- throughI which coldi wa:-

ter may be introduced, not only into the Y gases in the cylinder and by surrounding thel conduit 14 with a water jacket commu nicating with the jacket of the cylinder the heat isA communicated. to the waterl in` the chamber -16 and therefore acts as an auxiliary heating device for the water passing through the conduit 15 `In. like manner I connect the water jacket 12 with the interior of the boiler by the conduits 19 and 20 so that the heated water from the jacket 12 will pass directly into.

the boiler for additionally heating the water therein.

The superimposed chamber -.9 at the top of the boiler is provided with an. outlet conduit 21 and the exhaust from` thestleam engine 7 is also discharged into t is is de ected downwardly and when thesteam engine is in operation facilitates the draf-t through the ilues 10 Steam is supplied to the engine 7 from the boiler through a conduit 23 having a throttle valve 24 which is con.- trolled by a manually operated lever 25 this valve and its operating lever being of any well known construction, not necessary to further illustrate or describe.

It is desirable to provide means forfaut'o` pipe 21 by a conduit 22- which engines either matically controlling the operation of the steam engine by the pressure of steam from -the boiler, and I therefore, provide a second B0- said cylinder being connected to the.

conduit -23- at a point between the valves Q4- and --27 and the steam chamber of the boiler by an additional conduit -31-, so that the cylinder is always in direct communication with the steam chambery of the boiler. The piston -28- is located between the steam inlet of the cylinder -29- and spring S0- and receives lthe impact of the 'steam pressure from .the

boiler, thespring -30-'- acting upon the piston against the steam pressure to hold said piston in its normal position, in which position the valve -27-' of the conduit Z6- is closed.

When it is desired to operate the engine -'7- automatically the valve 24.- is closed so that the steam passes directly into the conduits -26- and -31-, the valve 27 -being normally closed and preventing the passage of the steam to the engine and when the steam pressure issuflicient to overcome the tension of the spring 3Q-the piston -28-is moved against the action of the spring to open the valve -27-, which may be of any desired construction not necessary to -herein illustrate or describe, and the steam, therefore, passes through the valve d-27- to the cylinder of the engine These two engines -6- and -7- may be connected in any desiredmanner to the driving wheels of the vehicle, but in order to show the practicability of utilizing these two jointly or individually in the propulsion of the vehicle, l have shown the rear axle sections as composed of hollow sleeves -35- which rotate in suitable bear- 4ings -Bn of the frame -1-. The rear Wheels of the vehicle are secured directl)r to the outer ends of the sleeves 35 in any well known manner, said sleeves being con- .nected to the crank-shaft of the gas engine through the medium of sprocket wheels -37- and -38- and chains -39-, the sprocket wheels -371- being loosely mounted upon th'e sleeves +35- and are )rovided with cam faces -38- between wliich and the peri hery of the sleeve are interposed a series o clutch balls -39-. These cam faces -38,- incline inwardly in a direction opposite to that of the rotation of the rockets -37-, and it is therefore evident s t at when the sprocket is rotated in the direction indicated by arrow Fie'. 4, the

cam faces -38-- impinge the clutc members 39- against the periphery of the sleeves -35 and rotate the sleeve with the i wheels which are secured thereto.

Journaled within the sleeve sections -35- is a crank-shaft -40 to which the piston of the steam engine is connected at -41#. As seen in Fig. 5, this shaft is provided with a series of cam faces -42- between which and the inner face of the sleeve are interposed a series of clutch balls #44, the cam faces 42 being inclined outwardly opposite to the direction of rotation of the shaft -40- and it is thus apparent that when the shaft -40- is rotated by the steam engine the clutch members -44- are l-35 to also rotate said sleeve and the l wheels secured thereto. It is now seen that l the sleeve 35- may be rotated by either i of the engines independently of the otherfor instance-when the gas engine is operating independently of the steam engine'the clutch members -44- are forced from their inclined faces and simply roll in their retainers without performing any work, or rather 1 without transmitting any movement to the crank-shaft -40- of the steam engine,- i and on the other hand-when the steam engine is in action to propel the vehicle the i clutch members -39- are forced out of l action so that the 'sprockets d-37* remain i stationary. i When both engines are operating together each set of clutch members '-39- and -44- are brought into action and an variation in the speed of one engine Awil simply throw theload u on the engine mov-y ing at the greatest speed.

the steam pressure falls below the minimum necessary to operate the steam engine the latter may be utilized to start the former and for this purpose I rovide a grooved clutch member 50- w `ch is fixed on, the sleeve in any well known manner to rotate into and out of operative connection with a clutch face upon the adjacent end of the sprocket wheel -38- by means of a lever 5l-and an operating rod -52-- and it is desired to'start the gas engine there engagement with the sprocket -38- which in turnoperates the crank-shaft of the gas engine through the medium of the chain 39- and sprocket 37d and when the gas engine is well under way the clutch inember 50 maybe thrown out of action whereupon the steam engine may or may not continue its operation as the operator may desire.

Having thus described my invention, what When the gas engine is at rest and before with the sleeve said clutch being movable.

Now when the steam engine is in action" by the clutch member-50 is thrown into;

locked against the inner face of the sleeve y I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. Asteam engine and a .boiler-'connected thereto in combination with a gas engine, means to conduct the exhaust from -the gas engine to the boiler to generate steam therein, a normally closed valve in the connection between the boiler and steam engine, and means actuated by the steam pressure for opening said valve.

2. In combination with a steam generator, a steam engine, a valved conduit leading from the boiler to the engine, a second valved conduit connected to the former conduit at opposite sides of its valve, a steam receiving cylinder connected to the boiler, a pistonin the cylinder connected to the valve in the second conduit and actuated in one direction .by the steam pressure to operate the valve and yielding means partially counteracting the pressure of steam on the piston.

3. In combination with a steam generator having a combustion chamber, a gas engine exhausting into the combustion chamber, a steamenglne receiving steam from the boiler, and automatic means controlled by the steam pressure from the boiler for regulating the speed of the steam engine.

4. In combination with a steam generator having a combustion chamber, a gas engine exhausting into the combustion chamber, a water jacket surrounding the cylinder of the gas engine, a water supply pipe leading to the water jacket, ya Water circulating pipe leading from the water jacket to water chamber ofthe boiler, an additional pipe leading from said Water jacket to the steam chamber of the boiler 'whereby the water pressure of the jacket is equalized and the steam generated in said water jacket is diverted to the steam chamber of the boiler, a steam engine receiving steam from the boiler, and automatic means controlled by the steam pressure of the boiler for regulating the passage of steam from the cylinder of the steam enlne. g 5. In combination with a steam generator, a gas engine having a Water jacket surrounding its explosion chamber and provided with a Water inlet, a conduit leading from the Water jacket to the water chamber of the boiler, a second conduit leading from said Water jacket to the steam chamber of the boiler, the last named pipe serving to conduct steam generated in the Water jacket to v'the steam chamber of tlie boiler, a steam engine receiving steam from the boiler, and automatic means controlled by the steam pressure of the boiler for regulating the speed of the steam engine.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set m5 hand this seventeenth da of March, 1903. V H NRY K. HESS. Witnesses:

MILTON WOLF, MORRIS APH. 

